Blog Note between Day 35 and Day 36 Blogs

I just finished today's 91 mile ride. It was a very slow ride day for me and required many unplanned quick stops along the road and a run for the bushes. I am beat tonight, so will not be doing today's blog until I am better, hopefully soon. Tomorrow's ride is shorter at 67 miles and I hope with a good night's sleep, the day will be easier with more energy.

I might add that as I rode further into Louisiana, I saw what to me were some interesting things. Stay tuned!

Day 35: Friday 04/08/16, Silsbee, TX to DeRidder, LA

 

I started riding at this point today, about 3 miles from the Texas and Louisiana border.

Day 35 distance: 27 miles

Total miles:  1859 miles

Elevation gain: 865 feet

Map of today's ride:

The worst of the flu may be behind me, but I am still very weak and tired. Today I rode in a SAG wagon until about 3.5 miles from the Louisiana border, and then rode the rest of the way to DeRidder, Louisiana, for a total ride of only 27.1 miles. I was completely exhausted by the time I reached tonight's motel. I showered and took a nap when I arrived. Tomorrow is a 92 mile day which, the way I am feeling right now, I will not be able to finish. I think I will start riding in the morning with everyone else and just go as far as I can. Part of my issue right now is that I lost everything that was in my stomach on Tuesday night, and since then, the doctor only recommended a bland diet. There really isn't such a thing as a bland diet here so in the last two days I have only had about a dozen saltine crackers and four Gatorade. Tonight I asked a SAG staff member to go to a grocery store and buy  some chicken noodle or rice soup. I am anxious for them to return to get the soup  into my system, to see if it helps me recover quicker and get some strength back. On the regular menu tonight was pizza, which I know my stomach would not tolerate.

I have always heard how there are a lot of mean dogs in Louisiana. Well, today, I was only about 4 miles into the State when I had a set of dogs chase me. Fortunately, they didn't bite, or knock my bicycle over, but dogs are a real concern and get your heart rate pumped up in a hurry!

The Sabine River defines the Texas and Louisiana border at the point we entered Louisiana.

Not a clean looking river, but I don't know if it looks like this all the time.

Selfie Stick picture 3, Any better than the first two Selfies I took?

This was the only "vista" picture I observed today as everything along the road is a forest. The yellow plant looked like mustard, but I don't really know what it is. I smelled a paper mill in the area, and if you look closely, you can see a plume of steam rising above the trees to the right of the house that I would assume is coming from a paper mill. Many years ago I visited a paper mill in DeRidder to look at some pulping equipment they were using at the time.

Day 34: Thursday 04/07/16, Shepard, TX to Silsbee, TX

Day 34 distance:  0 miles

Total miles:  1832 miles

Elevation gain: 745 feet

Map of today's ride:

Today was a major disappointment for me. I lost my EFI (Every Fabulous Inch!) status due to being unable to ride today's ride. About 7:00 PM last night, I had the urge to throw up. I wasn't feeling bad so thought it must have been something I ate. However, that was just the start, with being up at least every hour throughout the night vomiting along with diarhea. Not too convenient of a situation when sleeping in a tent! By 4:00 am, I had also lost enough electrolytes that I had both calf's cramping and both upper thigh's cramping at the same time.Not a pretty sight when you need to get up off an air matress to go to the bathroom!

I wasn't any better at 6:00 am when it was time to get up, so I called Coach, our mechanic, to bring a chair to my tent so I could prop myself up on it to take some weight off my cramped legs, so I could work on the cramps. I then showered and SAG member Beth Thomasen took me to an Urgent Care Center about 20 miles away. The doctor did a saliva test and confirmed I had gastroentitis, or a good old viral stomach flu. I was given a shot and a prescription to combat nausea. It seemed to help, but I did throw up again one more time this afternoon. I am the fifth coaster to have gone through this illness.

When I arrived at Silsbee, Texas, this afternoon with Beth,, I found that someone in the SAG group had gone to a laundry and washed all my bedding. Talk about being Pampered!

I am not sure what tomorrow will bring. At the very least, i want to ride across the Texas and Louisiana state line. We will see, but it will be a couple days after I regain my appetite to get my body replenished for consistent daily riding.

Day 33: Wednesday 04/06/16, Mexican Hill Ranch, Richards, TX to Shepard, TX

 

A nice send off this morning from the owners of the Mexican Hill Ranch.

 

Day 33 distance: 65 miles

Total miles: 1832 miles

Elevation gain: 1831 feet

Map of today's ride:

It only got into the low 50's last night, perhaps a sign that the real cold nights are behind us. I left the Mexican Hills Ranch around 8:00 am due to my Garmin acting up again, not wanting to power up. When I finally got it to start, the 100% charge from last night was down to 14%, so I charged it for half an hour before starting my ride. It then worked flawlessly during the ride. Not sure what the issue was, but hopefully it will not repeat itself tomorrow.

At breakfast this morning, Bubba advised everyone to have their raincoats handy as the sky was quite cloudy and dark. It remained overcast for most of the ride and only toward the end of the 65 mile ride did we start to see some sunshine, and fortunately, we never did get any rain. However, it was very humid today and a lot of water was needed to avoid dehydration.

The ride today was an overall "A". We had a nice tailwind for most of the ride, and the hills of East Texas are not as high nor as long as they have been, at least the ones we encountered today. We have a day and a half remaining of riding in Texas and we are all hoping the big hills are behind us.

I didn't take many ride pictures today due to it being overcast as well as the terrain being heavily treed, resulting in there being few vistas to photograph.

Mike Barga, a 2015 coaster finisher, left the tour yesterday as planned. He was flying back home from Houston. He only wanted to do the first 32 days this year, and Bubba had a spot available that allowed him to do a partial C2C ride. Mike injured his leg about a week before this year's ride, resulting in his inability to lift his leg over the top tube. For that reason, he brought his Bike Friday. He said the Bike Friday was comfortable to ride on the tour, but he rode about 1-2 mph slower than with his normal bicycle. He concluded that he would not do a C2C ride again on a Bike Friday.

Today's horse picture.

A typical road today for both scenery and traffic.

We rode through the Sam Houston National Forest today. Most everything in Texas is big, but I did not know that included trees!

Some of the forest we rode through.

I saw a lot of boats and several lakes on today's route.

This picture was taken close to Shepard, Texas, tonight's destination.

Tonight's camping site at Shepard's Sanctuary, a couple miles outside Shepard, Texas.

No one here is sure how to describe Shepard's Sanctuary, but eclectic comes to mind.

And more of Shepard Sanctuary.

 There are a total of five doors like in the picture at Shepard's Sanctuary that open to the outside of this narrow building. The five doors open to 2 toilets and 3 showers.  I have not found an outside sink yet. The water here contains so much sulfur that I smelled like a sulfur pot after I showered. Perhaps that is why there are no faucets?

Day 32: Tuesday 04/05/16, Rest Day at the Mexican Hill Ranch. Richards, TX

Day 32 distance: 0 miles (Rest day)

Total miles:  1767 mile

 

Anne served an excellent breakfast this rest day morning. She always prepares foods such as hotcakes and bacon that we do not have when we are riding. My sweet tooth always looks forward to hot cakes and syrup. :)

A great day-off breakfast menu!

The breakfast line was moving slowly this morning. Everyone was figuring out how to get everything on their plates in one pass! I couldn't even get anyone to take the time to look at the camera!

 After breakfast, another coaster, John Ilinin, brought out a hair clippers he had bought in Del Rio. I was able to trim the sides of my hair and got a volunteer to do my neck and the back of my head. That led to several other coasters wanting trims and since my haircut looked so professional, I got today's barbering honors and trimmed about four more coasters.

Look at that head of hair I got to trim! The victim is Jan Ritzier from the Netherlands. Jan and his wife,Truus, are two of the strongest riders on this C2C, while riding their 40 pound, 12 speed Rohloff geared bicycles. Fortunately, when I later asked Jan if he liked his haircut, he said he hadn't looked in a mirror yet. I hope he continues to not look!

At 10:00 am, I hopped on the trailer for the first of two hayrides that Ernie, the owner of Mexican Hills Ranch, was giving the coasters who wanted to see his ranch. Ernie spent two hours driving us around explaining his operation. Ernie has 35 head of cattle. Some coasters were excited as they were able to try to milk a cow by hand as well as feed a new born calf with a bottle. Obviously city slickers, not having grown up on a small Midwest farm like your blogger. Ernie also drove us past two of his deer stands. He said that in the area around his ranch, hunters are allowed to harvest, during season, two bucks and two does every year. Feral pigs and coyotes can be shot anytime, without a license.

Ernie heading out to his pastures with the hayride trailer full of coasters in tow.

Ernie explaining the ins and outs of breeding cattle and raising the calves. It was a very interesting and educational discussion for all.

In 2010, this pond was completely dry due to the drought. It is now thriving again, although obviously warm and oxygen deprived, due to all the algae growth.

Looking back at our camping site at the Mexican Hills Ranch from the hayride trailer.

Odds and Ends

I mentioned a while back that I would tell you about how tent camping works while on a Bubba tour. It is very simple for the rider. All we do is find our assigned tent by the number on it. The tent is already set up and our luggage in it along with a blown up air mattress. When we leave the next day, we leave our luggage in the tent if the ground outside is not suitable to set it outside, open the deflation valve on the air mattress, and leave. The next night if we are in a tent again, the preceding procedure is repeated.

This is part of about 40 tents that were set up at Marathon, Texas, when we arrived from that day's ride. The first thing I do is look for tent B61. There are two tent sizes available, a regular tent which is suitable for one person but is not tall enough to stand up in. The second size tent is a Bubba Dome which is bigger and tall enough to stand up in. Last year I had a regular tent and this year I have a Bubba Dome. Both work, but I am enjoying the convenience of being able to stand in the tent when doing things like packing and unpacking.

Ah, there is my tent, B61.

When I open the tent flap, this is what I see. An inflated air mattress and my three pieces of luggage. The green compression bag contains all of my bedding (sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, pillow, fitted twin sized sheet to cover the air mattress, and my Walmart $4.88 quilt purchased in Del Rio. I also pack at the bottom of the bag my cold weather sleeping gear. Everything goes in and out of the bag in the order I make my bed.

Sleeping mattress set for the night, although since I took this picture, I also insert the blanket over the liner and under the sleeping bag.

This is my cold weather sleep gear. Good to the low 30's. I double up on the tops and bottoms, single or double socks, stocking cap that covers the ears, and gloves if needed. My sleeping bag is rated for 15 degrees but think it should be rated for 50 degrees!

When I leave the tent in the morning, it will look like the first photo, only with the air mattress deflated. As far as computer gear, there is a separate container where we keep all computer gear for extra safe handling and ensuring it doesn't get wet.

Extra pictures:

 

SAG member Pete McCabe throwin' the bull...or the bull throwin' Pete?

Brad Stafford, City Manager of Navasota, Texas, on the left and coaster Jim Sporer, on the right. Mr. Stafford approached Jim and me when we were viewing the statue of Frank Hamer, next to the Navasota City Hall. Mr. Stafford welcomed us to Navasota and told us to contact him if we had any needs while in town. He is very pleased that Navasota is on the Southern Tier bicycle route.

John Edwards, is known as coaster Eddo, due to two other coasters named John. John is a Probation Officer from Liverpool, England. He always has a smile on his face and is a great sport!

Note Bubba's Phantom drone overhead. There was a contest to name the drone won by your blogger with the name Wolf Craft. The name was chosen because Bubba doesn't fly the drone, but a member of the Wolf Pack is the drone operator. The winning prize was 5 tokens for evening hydration drinks. :)

Day 31: Monday 04/04/16, LaGrange, TX to Mexican Hill Ranch, Richards, TX

 

Day 31 distance: 89 miles

Total miles:  1767 miles

Elevation gain: 1825 feet

Map of today's ride:

The weather for today's 89 mile ride from LaGrange, Texas, to the Mexican Hill Ranch, right outside of Richards, Texas, was great. The sun was out and when the wind came up, it was a moderate tailwind. However, the ride for me was not without an issue. About 45 miles into the ride, an unfamiliar squeak was heard coming from the rear wheel which turned out to be a cracked rear rim. In fact, an inspection revealed there were 14 cracks next to spoke holes. The following is a picture of the worst crack:

This shows the worst of the 14 rear wheel rim cracks, next to the spoke openings, on my Velocity A23 rim. The tire set was custom built at a cost of $740 for a cross country ride such as I am on. Velocity has been notified of the problem which could be due to a metallurgic failure, or, I am surmising, Velocity will say that someone over tightened the spokes either during their installation or during a routine truing of the rim. The wheels probably had over 6000 miles on them at the time of failure.

Fortunately, John Murphy with SAG support had a spare rear wheel along, and within an hour of the failure, our traveling bicycle mechanic had transferred my cassette to John's spare wheel, and I continued the ride from the point I had stopped. Amazing staff efficiency!

The rest of the ride was pleasant without incident. The ride was pretty with a very "Midwestern" look. I believe there were more flowers the past two days, but that will vary from day to day. We are in the process of leaving the flat ground of Central Texas and are beginning to get into the hills of East Texas, although according to Texans, we are still about 20 miles from "official" East Texas.

This photo with heavy shadows was taken a little before 8:00 am, a couple miles out of LaGrange, Texas.

We rode on almost all types of roads today, from farm roads like above, to a 6 mile stretch on a busy 4 lane highway.

About 5 years ago, C2C bicycle mechanic Chandler Otis, while riding his mechanic's vehicle on that day's C2C route through Carmine, Texas, stopped to help this man, Gene Goodsley, repair a flat tire on his bicycle. Chandler also trued his tires and adjusted his shifting. When completed, Gene asked Chandler what he could do for him, Chandler told him he would like a cup of coffee. Gene told Chandler that there was no coffee available in Carmine, so he went home and made Chandler a cup. Ever since then, Gene has been waiting for each year's coasters with a pot of coffee for all the riders. This year Bubba also bought donuts for everyone to have with the coffee. It was a real treat about 20 miles into the ride!

Burton, Texas, small town, USA.

The only field of flowers picture today. In this field, there were small yellow daisies mixed with the Indian Paintbrush. It was quite a sight!

An old log cabin in the Independence, Texas area, an area of significant Texas history.

This was a 44 mile lunch stop. Everyone made sandwiches in the morning at breakfast for their lunch. Note the four white columns thru the trees and followup in the next picture.

This monument is to mark the location of the original Baylor University site, the oldest University in the state of Texas, formed on February 1, 1845. Baylor apparently operated at this site until 1886.

A simple but clean entrance to this ranch site.

Your blogger in Navasota, Texas, next to the statue of  Frank Hamer, a famous Texas Ranger. At the age of 24, over a 4 year period, Hamer cleaned up the crime and corruption in Navasota. He went on to become, perhaps the most famous Texas Ranger of them all, culminating his career in leading the posse that tracked and killed Bonnie and Clyde in Louisiana.

Whoops! With the hills ahead it looks like we are getting close to East Texas!

At last, Indian Hills Ranch is in site. We are all ready for a day off tomorrow!

Tonight's menu.